Venetian Lion

After a local gallery has taken some of my my cards to sell in their gallery and they require further designs, I needed to start work on these and chose this image of one of the Venetian lions in Saint Mark's Square, Venice. I have also been rethinking the printing process too as usually I print my cards via my Gocco machine. However, Gocco have ceased production of their machines and supplies which has meant increased prices for the supplies that are still in circulation. This lead me to actually try screenprinting the cards and since I have joined Birmingham Printmakers this seems like a sensible way forward. The above is my image on the screen before I have printed it and then during printing:

I have not decided yet whether I like the design as it is or whether I need to do more to it, also whether it would be better to put this card out at the start of next year or spring, rather than now, when it may be more appropriate for summer holiday time?

Per Kirkeby, Tate Modern

Last week we visited the Tate Modern in London, especially to see the exhibition of Danish painter Per Kirkeby. Previously I had seen a few of his paintings in books and was intrigued to see his paintings in the 'flesh'.

We visited the gallery on a Wednesday when it was very quiet and as the weather was not so good our first port of call was the cafe:

In the first rooms Per Kirkeby's paintings were very much like pop art but more subtle. Further on in the exhibition he had been using blackboard paint as a base and created many different layers of mixed media on the top. His work was quite varied from watercolours to immense canvases, although the colours and techniques that he uses pulls all his work together. Per Kirkeby was trained as a geologist and this is evident in both the way that he treats his media as if investigating the build of of different layers and also in the subjects that he chooses to represent.

The exhibition was really good and what was unusual was that there were not many people in the galleries and so we virtually had the exhibition to ourselves. This was good from the point of view that we could really get a good look at the paintings without having to manoeuvre around people. It was really worth visiting and appealed to both myself and my daughter. I Iook forward to seeing more of Per Kirkeby's work in the future.

Charleston Revisited

I guess this shows that I have been posting on this blog for just over a year now as I revisited Charleston when we went to Sussex for our holidays last month. This was the house and meeting place for the Bloomsbury group of artists and the interior was painted by the artists Vanessa Bell (Virginia Woolf's sister) and Duncan Grant.

I love this place in the peaceful Sussex countryside, even though it just started to rain as I went into the garden, it was very beautiful. This is the lawn that Vanessa Bell's French windows opened out into. Apparently her husband made her move her bedroom downstairs when he moved back into the house. It must have been lovely on a hot summer's day to open the doors of your bedroom onto this:

Although it is quite a small garden the planting is lovely and there are some statues as well:

Last year when I visited I went inside the house and I nted to go around again and was not disappointed. Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos inside the house, so I cannot show you the wonderful painted interiors here. There were some new paintings in the house that were on loan that I had not seen last year and also another room had been opened that I had not actually been in last year.

The shop is always really special to visit and this year they have added some lovely textiles that are designs by Duncan Grant and Cressida Bell. If you want to see more paintings and textiles by the Bloomsbury group there is an exhibition on at the Courtauld Gallery called Beyond Bloomsbury until 20th September.

I felt that I was really starting to get to know the house and the characters who lived or visited there and am hoping that I will be lucky enough to go there again next year.

Cambridge Open Studios 2

When I visit any artists' Open Studios I obtain the brochure beforehand and try and choose just a handful of artists to visit, otherwise it can leave you exhausted trying to look around them all. Usually I choose an artist whose work I am familiar with, but often it is nice to be surprised by someone whose work you don't know. Bearing in mind that there were over one hundred and fifty artists exhibiting for the Cambridge Open Studios I flicked through their leaflet for just one other artist to visit, as did not know Cambridge at all and only had a limited time to spend there. My eye was drawn towards the above painting by Melanie Max in the Open Studios brochure and I decided her work would be another to view.



Melanie's work is wonderful; abstract landscapes inspired by East Anglia and the West Country. I was particularly interested in her most recent work which incorporated the drawn line and an exploration of space both of the scene she is inspired by and on the canvas:

Another bonus of going to see Melanie's work was in the beautiful surroundings her work was exhibited in which is the Kaetsu Centre in the New Hall in Cambridge. This was a really lovely space to exhibit work and I would love to see some of my paper hangings in this space as my work often has a Japanese aesthetic to it.

Exhibiting alongside Melanie was ceramic artist and printmaker Clare Crouchman. Clare's work is an exploration of order and chaos informed by maps, cities and mazes. Again another added bonus and lovely surprise of viewing an artist that I hadn't heard of before:

The artists' work complemented each other really well in this beautiful space and I shall be putting the Cambridge Open Studios in my diary for next year and looking forward to visiting these artists again and finding new ones to enjoy.

Cambridge Open Studios 1

A few weeks ago I travelled over to Cambridge to visit the annual artists' Open Studios there. I had not been before and have wanted see the studio of artist Charlotte Cornish whose work I have been admiring for a few years. Charlotte's work is gorgeous - really vivid coloured abstract prints and paintings with inspiration taken from places she has travelled to:

Charlotte's studio is one of the most ideal spaces I have seen for creating wonderful works of art. I love the idea of being able to sit/lounge on this chaise longue and contemplate the work you have just produced. However, I think in real life this would be just a dream as I know how busy life is for a practising artist!

I love the floor of Charlotte's studio too as it is like a painting in itself:

The studio is really in a gorgeous setting, how can you fail to be inspired and produce good work in a place like this?

Shrewsbury Open Studios

A few weeks ago I visited some artists' studios in the Shrewsbury Open Studios weekend. I usually choose about four or five artists to visit, however, this does not always go to plan!

One of my first ports of call was to see Pam Newall's garden studio; located very space efficiently in her shed! This was a treat to also see her beautiful house and garden. Pam has just completed the Professional Print Diploma course at Wrexham Print Centre and is now looking to take an MA in printmaking.

The weather was ideal for this weekend, hot and sunny and Pam had very kindly supplied visitors with glasses of refreshing orange juice on ice, perfect for such a hot day. Pam's work is lovely; her prints feel like moments captured in time and the colours are subtle and beautiful. You can see her work in the Print Centre up to 24th July in the 'Print Out: Professional Printmakers' Exhibition and Pam also has a print in the Wrexham Open at Oriel Wrecsam.

After spending quite a lot of time talking to Pam and some of her visitors, I then drove to the studio of another graduate from the Professional Printmaking course, Heather Prescott:

I received another warm welcome from Heather and spent a lot of time talking to her (I think this is why I don't get to see so many artists! But the ones I do see are just so interesting). Her collagraph prints are beautiful with lovely colours and textures. Also Heather is experimenting with some prints onto Chinese paper which will be exciting to see how they develop. Her studio is fascinating with so many lovely things to see:

Then I was invited to view the studio of Heather's neighbour, artist Mike Priest:

Most of Mike's abstract paintings are on a really large scale, as you can see and he has an exhibition coming up in the autumn at Shrewsbury School. The colours he uses and his mark making techniques are what make his paintings special. Mike has a really nice studio space, situated in his garden. On the day I visited some of his paintings were propped up outside and the light filtered through these into the studio giving a kind of Japanese feel:

Although a lot of Mike's work is large scale he also paints smaller works in preparation for the larger canvases and these along with some of his monoprints can be seen in Wenlock Fine Art

Fresh from Wrexham

I was lucky to be chosen to exhibit one of my pieces in the show chosen for Oriel Wrexham gallery. I was really pleased with how the gallery had exhibited my work - which as you can see is a long tall hanging which trails onto the floor.
My screenprinted paper hanging was hung next to my friend Jude Hill-Davies' exciting installation. You can find more of her work along with some of mine here.